Called "huge" by Vice News, "viral" by The Australian and "a craze that is reportedly prevalent within the skating community" by The Daily Telegraph, this "popular" Australian past time known as "bubbling," is, in fact, not all that popular.

It's just a big trolling campaign by a group of skateboarders who are literally “taking the piss” in the media.

Troy West (whose real name is Troy Roberts) and his group of skater friends, who include pro skater Callum Paul, have been trying to make the foul stunt go viral for years. Finally, it has happened.

"Bubbling" reportedly started overseas years ago as a "stupid thing" some guys do at a party, a spokesperson from Melbourne-based skate company Fast Times tells Mashable Australia. The uncommon and unsanitary practice was originally known as "gargoyling," but has since been renamed "bubbling" in Australia after the local name for water fountains — bubblers.

In the last couple of years, Troy, Callum and friends seem to have decided it would be a good way to troll skaters while on tour, making them think it was something all Australians did for fun.

Troy didn’t back away from the opportunity to promote his dirty cause.

“It's huge in Australia. It's part of our everyday life. My dad actually taught me how to do it when I was a kid,” he said.

But he was just having a laugh. Just like drop bears (a fictitious Australian marsupial) are not falling from the skies and we aren’t taking our pet kangaroos for a walk down here in the southern hemisphere, this revolting party trick is not a regular occurrence.

Skater John Ryder summed it up when he said it was merely a couple of “fruitcakes” causing trouble.

“Yeah, this doesn’t happen in Oz at all. Maybe one or two fruitcakes, but that’s it. I skate and live in Australia, and have never heard of ‘bubbling’,” he told news.com.au.

In a show of support to get the prank some attention, Callum, who is a team rider with Fast Times and has been signed professionally with Pass-Port, was photographed recently doing the deed at a secret CONS warehouse party where the band Trash Talk played.

Manager of Fast Times Cam Baines told Mashable it was just some friends seeing how far they could take it.

“[Bubbling] definitely isn’t a trend, just a bunch of guys being as gnarly and fucked up as they can be and seeing how far they can spread something,” he said.

He said he believed it isn’t common practice but that the skater community is different from professional sports, such as rugby, and these antics are just laughed off if they do happen.

Everything would have been fine, the people of the Internet would have just archived this “bubbling” thing right into Urban Dictionary where it belonged — but then things got real.

According to an image that recently surfaced, Todd Carney, an Australian Rugby League footballer, apparently decided to give it a shot in the bathroom at a pub. It isn’t clear if it was a dare for money or a stupid joke or if the idea came off the back of Troy’s media appearances.

Todd Carney of the Sharks runs onto the field.

Image: Renee McKay/Getty Images

Either way, the feral behavior has officially got Carney sacked from his $3 million contract with the NRL team the Cronulla Sharks. It seems after a lot of hard work and dedication, Troy and his trolling buddies have finally made “bubbling” hit the mainstream.

On Tuesday, Carney’s agent David Riolo said the footballer had paid the ultimate price for “a joke."

“Todd’s paid a very, very heavy price for a photo that he didn’t want out there or upload himself. It was supposed to be kept between mates,” Mr Riolo told 2UE Radio. “The person who took the photo contacted me this morning by text and said, ‘My phone got lost’ — supposedly — and that’s how the photo got out. It was meant to be a joke.

“He’s now got a photo of himself gone worldwide in not a very pleasant setting that’s going to be on the net for his family and everyone to see for future generations. That in itself is a very big price to pay.”

All thanks to a bunch of Aussie skaters who were trying to cause a bit of controversy.

Reassuring to know if Todd Carney ever gets lost in the outback he'd survive for an extra few days

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.